


Took Me by Surprise

by QuickedWeen



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: (mildly), American AU, Boston, Brookline, Chance Meetings, Except they are American, Famous Harry, Famous Louis, First Dates, Football Player Louis, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Blow Jobs, M/M, Non-Graphic Smut, Rock Star Harry, Secret Relationship, Single Parent Louis, Texting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-03
Updated: 2018-05-03
Packaged: 2019-05-01 13:01:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14521146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuickedWeen/pseuds/QuickedWeen
Summary: Louis Tomlinson and his best friend Bridget had a daughter when they were very young and he was on the brink of becoming the next MLS star. Until he blew out his knee.A decade later, he's the head anchor of the American version ofMatch of the Dayand is raising the coolest nine-year-old on the planet, who happens to be obsessed with Harry Styles - popstar, musician, and all-around household name.





	Took Me by Surprise

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This fic is what I like to call: if the whole world lived in Boston. 
> 
> For those who know Boston, the idea is that the television station Louis works for (NBS, which, again, if you know where I got the station from I will love you forever and bake you cookies) bought the IM Pei Hancock building from the insurance company when they sold it and that's where all of their studios and offices are.
> 
> Some of the stuff is fudged, like the name of the restaurant is made up because the real name is too identifiable. That kind of thing.

**_I have seen, seen it all in paper dreams..._ **

“I’m sorry, kitten, you want to go to a what movie?” Louis stared down at his daughter in shock.

“A World War II movie!” Catherine beamed up at him, eyes bright and shining in the afternoon sunlight as they walked home from her elementary school.

“A World War II movie?”

“Yes, Daddy, a World War II movie.” Satisfied that her point was made, she continued on happy as could be, taking in the sights and sounds of their neighborhood.

“Kitty Cat, why do you want to go to a World War II movie?” He was terrified of the answer. What were they teaching her in that school?

“Harry stars as a soldier!” As she said his name her eye widened, her smile grew, and she gasped in a breath as though the man in question was standing right in front of them.

Harry Styles. He should have known. Harry Styles was the absolute bane of his existence. Louis was sure he was a great guy and all, but Catherine was absolutely obsessed with him. Everywhere she went it was Harry this or Harry that or ‘Harry says…’ Louis really needed to start talking to Bridget about limiting their daughter’s internet time.

Louis and one of his best friends shared custody of Cat. Ten years ago, when they were just twenty-two, they had fallen into the trap of thinking that a friendship could lead to more, but as happens sometimes, it didn’t. They had been young, Louis had been in the middle of a sexuality crisis, and they had always been better off as friends rather than anything more. Neither he nor Bridget would ever regret Cat, though, they both loved her too much. To be fair, she was the coolest child ever.

Catherine lived with him full time in Brookline because Bridget worked incredibly long hours as a hedge fund manager at one of the top firms in Boston. Louis’ schedule was a bit more flexible, and ideal for raising a daughter on his own.

Every weekday morning he dropped Cat off at school - she was in fourth grade and he was in serious denial - and then would head into the city for a few hours to work on his show, the American version of _Match of the Day_ , the headliner of NBS’ sports channel during soccer season, and then he would make it home in time to pick her up.

On Saturdays, his filming day, she stayed with Bridget in her fancy condo in the Seaport through to Sunday when Bridget would bring her back home, and they started the cycle over again.

The system was ideal for them, and occasionally on Sundays, they would have outings with the three of them together. Many people didn’t really understand their family dynamic and raised their eyebrows at how little animosity there was between Louis and Bridget, but it worked for them and that was all that mattered.

Cat and Louis made it home hand in hand before she promptly flew up to her room. It was a Wednesday, but she had just finished a big project, so there was no need for her to rush to get her homework done. Must be more Harry stuff. Louis rolled his eyes.

He didn’t pay that much attention to it, but he did hear all about the guy all the time. Never in a million years would he discourage Cat, or imply that her interest in Harry was something trivial or to be ashamed of, but he really hoped she would begin broadening her interests soon. If only for the sake of their dinner table discussions. But, for now, c’est la vie.

 

A few hours later, the water was boiling away on the stove when Cat came barrelling down the stairs.

“Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!”

Louis hit send on an email to approve the final script pages for a feature segment he was filming the next day before shutting his laptop and training his full attention on his daughter. “Yes, kitten?”

“Oh. My. God.” She emphasized each word, and Louis knew that didn’t necessarily mean she was ready to finish the sentence, it just meant she was overwhelmed. He reminded himself to make his weekly call to his mother to thank her for giving him five sisters - his experience with them was invaluable in having a daughter of his own. Eventually, Cat was able to get to her point; “Harry is performing outside of your building on Sunday night!”

“My building?” he asked as he poured the pasta into the water.

“Yes! Your building!” she screamed.

“You mean my office? Really? On a Sunday night? That’s an odd time.” His office was in what used to be the Hancock building, so there must be something happening in Copley Square.

“Can we go, Daddy? Please, please, please, please, please?” She was looking up at him like he held the key to her kingdom. He would have to call Bridget, but he was sure she wouldn’t mind, and the thing was… Cat was his world, so if he could give her the world? He would. No question. Despite how much he did _not_ want to listen to Harry’s music for the length of an entire set. Outside. In the cold.

“Yeah, of course,” he relented.

Cat, always one to surprise him, didn’t run around screaming her excitement. Instead, she jumped up, throwing her arms around his neck, tackling him in a giant hug. He wheezed a bit when she slammed into his chest, but he wrapped his arms tightly around her and gently lowered them both down to the floor. It was uncomfortable, sure, but as long as his baby girl wanted to hang off of him like a koala, he would oblige.

She buried her face in his neck like she used to do when she was little, and they stayed like that for awhile. They finally untangled themselves when the timer started going for the pasta, but she remained close to his side while he finished dinner, looping her arm in his left hand loosely so he could stir and drain with his right.

When they were settled at the table, the two of them on the corner like they preferred when it was just them, she began to twirl her spaghetti.

“Can we invite Auntie Phoebe and Auntie Daisy, too?” she asked around a mouthful, slurping her noodles.

“Sure, Kitty Cat,” he replied, thankful for the help his sisters would provide if he was being honest. Now all he had to do was figure out which division was putting on the concert.

An hour later he had tucked Cat into bed with a new book that she had asked for the other day, so he headed back downstairs to call his sisters.

He debated between trying Daisy or Phoebe first. They were sophomores in college; one was at Simmons and one was at Emerson, but they shared a small apartment on Comm Ave. He had offered to pay for something nicer, but his mom wanted them to get the full “college experience.”

In the end, he settled on Phoebe.

“Brother!” She said cheerfully.

“Hey, Phee. How’s it going?”

“Homework, same old,” she groaned. It was a Wednesday night, and he felt a surge of brotherly pride that she was being responsible and actually getting work done. He hadn’t been as diligent when he was in school. She was studying something called “Business of Creative Enterprises” at Emerson, which basically meant that Louis was counting down the days until she took over as his boss at NBS.

They caught up a bit before he finally grit his teeth and admitted why he was calling. “So, have you heard of Harry Styles?”

There was silence on the other end of the line.

“Phee?”

“Have I heard of Harry Styles? Are you serious?” His sister asked incredulously.

“What? I don’t know,” Louis whined.

“Yes, Louis, I have heard of Harry Styles,” she deadpanned. “Even if I hadn’t on my own, he’s all your daughter talks about.”

“Okay, good. Do you think you and Dais could come with me and Cat when he performs outside NBS?”

“Sunday night, right? I think I saw an ad for it.” Louis hummed in agreement while his sister hesitated. “Yeah, I think I can, but I don’t know what Daisy’s schedule is like.”

“Well at least one of you can come and save me, I’m totally out of my depth with this stuff,” he sighed in relief. Phoebe just laughed.

They hung up with a promise that the girls would text him with more details about Sunday.

He trudged up the stairs and poked his head into Cat’s room. “Lights out, Kitty Cat,” he called out. She grumbled a bit, but still handed the book over to him. He made sure to take the book from her now after the first few times he caught her reading with a flashlight after lights out. He was so proud that she was such a voracious reader; he never had been when he was that age, so he hadn’t known all the tricks until his mom had pointed some out. Apparently, his sister Felicite had been the same way.

It wasn’t news to him that his kid was the smartest, coolest kid around. Not that he was biased at all.

His next call was to Bridget.

“Hey, dickwad,” she said as soon as she picked up the phone.

“What? What did I do?”

“I forgot to tell you, Cat said the word ‘shit’ the other day. What are you teaching her?”

“I don’t know,” Louis griped, even though he totally did know. Cat had heard him swearing after he stubbed his toe the week before, but he wasn’t about to admit it. “Maybe she learned it from the person who answers the phone with ‘Hey, dickwad.’”

Bridget paused on the other end of the line, “Yeah, you’re probably right. Anyway, what’s up?”

Louis bit back a smile. He was lucky, he supposed, to share a daughter with one of his best friends. He couldn’t imagine what their life would have been like if they had hated each other.

“I’m sorry it will cut into your time, but Cat really wants to see Harry Styles perform on Sunday outside NBS. Would it be alright if I picked her up on Sunday afternoon instead?” Louis explained apologetically. He really did feel bad for cutting into the limited time Cat got to spend with her mom.

“Sure thing, should be okay. I’ll ask Jimmy, maybe he’ll want to come. Harry is all she talks about, he’s bound to be at least a little bit curious by now,” she replied as Louis heard pages flip on the other end of the phone. She must be looking through her trusty planner. Most people with such a high powered job had made the complete digital scheduling transition, but Bridget really loved writing things down.

Jimmy was Bridget’s fiancee, and they were set to get married at some point in the next few months. Cat liked to open up her closet and stare at her flower girl dress in its clear plastic garment bag all the time. Louis was glad Bridget had waited to settle down until she found a guy like Jimmy. He was nice, even-tempered, chill. The total opposite of both Louis and Bridget.

When they were friends back in college, they had been too much of a good thing, and a romantic relationship never really fit or felt quite right. They flirted heavily, all of their friends wanted them to get together, so they gave it a shot. They had been drunk and stupid when they slept together the first and only time, fueled by what should have been a 'best friends turned couple' fairytale.

Instead, they woke up to an awkward morning after. Neither one of them wanted to hurt the other’s feelings, but eventually, Louis broke down and confessed that he was grappling with his sexuality. Bridget had been relieved, given how disastrously their so-called 'tension' had fizzled the night before.

They had a laugh, ordered a pizza, and watched Marvel movies for the rest of the day.

Bridget had ended up pregnant, decided to have Cat, and they were parents. The first few years had been really difficult but would have been impossible without Louis’ mom. She had his younger siblings about a year and a half before Cat was born, so they had received every hand-me-down imaginable.

While his first year after college was a bit of a blur, both of their families were nearby, and various family friends as well. Cat really was one of those kids that had been raised by a village filled with so much love. As the saying went; her feet never really touched the floor. There was always someone around to watch her, hold her, feed her, play with her. His youngest siblings Doris and Ernest were two of her best friends as well. It was a bit odd that they were her among her aunts and uncles, but it didn’t seem to bother any of them.

Eventually, he and Bridget hung up with plans to meet at the NBS building on Sunday afternoon. Louis pulled his laptop out where he laid in bed, hoping to answer some emails and get some work done before he fell asleep.

 

 **_Watched it unfold on the screen  
_ ** **_But I never understood_ **

The next day, he dropped Cat off at school like normal after telling her that he had remembered to invite her aunties, and even possibly her mom for the performance on Sunday. Now that he had made such grand promises, he was beginning to worry that he didn’t have enough pull at the network to get all of the tickets he would require.

That was one downside to having such a large immediate family, it made anything they tried to do bigger and more complicated.

Per his usual Thursday routine, he headed straight for the huge Trader Joe’s in Coolidge Corner. Thursday at 9AM was the perfect time to go. Most people had gone to work already, it wasn’t the beginning of the week, but it also wasn’t quite the Friday night rush to stock up on everything before the weekend. And God help him if he ever tried to go after five on a weekday. Madness.

Thursday mornings gave him plenty of time to shop and relax and browse. He and Cat would have starved a long time ago if it hadn’t been for the vast and varied wonderland that was the Trader Joe’s frozen section. Louis wasn’t the best cook around, but he could work a microwave. And a toaster. Most of the time.

When he was done shopping he stopped to pick up some flowers for his office. As he was waiting for the woman to cut the bouquet, he eyed the small shelf of magazines they had for sale.

Right there, on the front of a trashy tabloid magazine, was Harry Styles. Or at least, Louis thought it was Harry Styles. The man had on work out gear, ridiculous white bug-eyed sunglasses, and some kind of train conductor hat pushed on top of his short hair. That wasn’t how he remembered Harry from all of Cat’s posters that she had wanted to put up, but the front cover declared that it was him in garish bright yellow letters, so it must be true.

Louis could vaguely make out the buildings that were out of focus behind him, and it definitely looked like the Fort Point Channel. It made sense, he supposed, that Harry was in Boston because he would be performing there in a few days time. Louis just half expected him to set up an East Coast base camp in some trendy New York City loft before coming up for the day, or launching his North American tour. Not as many celebrities really made a life for themselves here in Boston. If they did, it was because they were born and bred New Englanders usually. Even then they were more likely to own a huge Victorian on Martha’s Vineyard than an apartment in a still not quite completely gentrified neighborhood by the water.

While he had been distracted by this supposed Harry Styles in the magazine, the florist had been calling out to him. She had been trying to get his attention for awhile, then.

He quickly paid before heading back home with all of his groceries and supplies.

Louis was home just long enough to drop his bags and change into his work clothes before hopping on the C Line at Summit Ave to ride into his office downtown. On non-taping days he kept his work clothes business casual because he never knew when he would be called into a meeting with one of the network guys for something useless. On show days, though, most people like that left him alone because it was Saturday, so he was free to keep it comfortable.

Today was not one of those days.

Louis hadn’t even made it three steps onto their floor of the building before his producer Niall was cornering him in the hallway.

“So I hear you’re bringing Cat in to see the Harry Styles concert this weekend,” he started in without so much as a “Hello.”

“How did you--?” Louis asked flabbergasted. “I only offered last night. Which one of them told you?”

“What do you mean?” Niall asked innocently.

“You have a mole in my family, Horan. Which one is it?” Louis pointed at him accusingly. He hadn’t even had his second tea of the day yet.

“I am a journalist, and as such, my sources will remain anonymous.” They kept an even pace as they made their way through the main studio to the offices beyond.

“You’re only _technically_ a sports journalist on a good day, Ni. Not Christiane Amanpour.”

Niall stopped, affronted, as Louis kept walking towards his own office where he could see that his inbox was overflowing.

“I’m going to make the guys write your cue cards in Gaelic!” Niall shouted at Louis’ retreating back.

“You do that!” Louis saluted him with the script pages he still needed to approve. Maybe Niall would be fake insulted for long enough that Louis would actually have the chance to read his pages all the way through.

“I can get you those concert passes, you know,” Niall said from where he leaned against the open doorway. That would be a no on the pages, then.

“Thanks, Ni,” Louis grumbled.

“No problem, Lou. Hey, have you looked at the script pages yet?”

Louis glared up at him from his desk. “You’ve been with me from the moment I walked in the door two minutes ago.”

“Right, well, come find me when you do.” If Louis had been talking to anyone else, that would be the end of the conversation. But he was talking to Niall, his best friend, so it wasn’t. “So,” he said after a few more seconds of silence. “Harry Styles, huh?”

“Yeah,” Louis sighed. “Cat loves him. She’s really excited. Made me invite the older twins and everything. Do you think you can get me that many passes?”

Niall waved a hand at him dismissively. “Of course, as many as you need. Last time she was here she was telling me all about his new movie. Where does she learn all this?”

“I mean, she’s nine, Niall. I let her use the internet and stuff.”

“There are crazy people on the internet,” Niall shuddered.

“You’re already in her life, I’m not too worried about what the internet can throw at her. Plus, we have all the parental controls set up to block the bad sites.” Louis pointedly looked back down at his desk thinking maybe Niall would take the hint.

Instead, something Louis said must have implied that Niall should come into his office, plop down in a chair and throw his feet up on Louis’ desk. “I wonder if she’s heard the theories about him,” Niall mused.

That caught Louis’ attention for good. He shoved the pages aside, resigned to the fact that he would have to read them during his lunch; “What theories?”

A slow smile crept across Niall’s face like this was the point he had been planning to make for the whole conversation, and Louis had just opened the door for him with trumpeting fanfare.

“That he’s gay.”

Louis scoffed, “Doesn’t everyone in Hollywood have a gay rumor at some point?”

“Maybe,” Niall admitted, “but this one seems to have a fair amount of traction.”

“But doesn’t he also always have a model girlfriend?” Louis was still skeptical.

Niall looked at him patronizingly. “Come on, Lou. We work in the entertainment industry--”

“Do we, though?”

“Well, we’re on TV,” Niall continued. “You know most relationships are PR moves. People have even tried to get you to be in fake relationships.”

“What?!” Louis exclaimed, sitting upright in his seat. “When?”

“Back when you were playing professionally,” Niall said like it was an obvious and well-known fact.

“You mean when I was a soccer star for all of two seconds?”

Louis had gone pro with the New England Revolution for a bit after college right before they had Cat, but he had blown out his knee pretty badly and had to go through months of rehab and physical therapy. With Cat on the way, he was wary of continuing to play because his heart wasn’t completely in it. He had always loved the behind the scenes work a lot more, and as a player, there was no guarantee that he would be allowed to stay with the Revs indefinitely.

During his rehab, he had worked a lot with the coaching staff. That led to a few on-air network appearances on behalf of the team. He had apparently already been on NBS’ radar when Niall, his old friend from high school, took the producing job at _Match of the Day_. Niall was the one who eventually gave him a call and offered him the anchor position.

At that point, Cat was still a baby. The network job was ideal for him because it was close to home, close to his family, and Bridget found work downtown as well.

They lived together in the in-law apartment at Louis’ mother’s home for the first year of Cat’s life. They figured out an official custody agreement that worked for them with lawyers and everything just to be safe before they moved out to their own places.

Louis honestly loved his single dad life. He knew he was luckier than most with the way his schedule worked out and having Bridget as a co-parent. But, he didn’t have much wiggle room for relationships. Nothing had ever really lasted long enough for anyone to meet Cat. He had always known that it would have to be really serious for him to even consider that.

A relationship was about the only thing that _was_ missing his life, but he didn’t mind much. He had Cat, his family, and he had a job he loved.

“I guess we’ll see on Sunday.”

Louis was startled back to the present.

“See?” he asked.

“Have you listened to me at all? Harry. Styles. Gay.”

“Whatever, Ni. I’m sure it’s just those crazies on the internet you were trying to warn me about three seconds ago.” Louis brushed him off, skeptical of any tabloid rumors. “Now leave me alone so I can read these.”

“Fine,” Niall pushed up out of the chair. “See you in a bit. Meeting at one,” he pointed at Louis before disappearing through the doorway.

Louis checked his phone. Already noon. He stood up to grab a frozen meal out of the mini fridge in his office. “Guilt-Free Mac ‘n’ Cheese,” he read off the label. After his train of thought about how single he was earlier, the ‘guilt free’ moniker was even more depressing than usual for some reason. He left his office to trudge down to the hall towards the kitchen to heat it up.

Just another day.

 

 **_I have heard, have heard you speak a million words  
_ ** **_Now you're talking to me first  
_ ** ******_Never thought you would_**

Saturday morning, Bridget came right at eight to pick up Cat. They discussed the logistics for the next day when they should meet at the building, who was attending (Louis still wasn’t sure), and what they should bring.

When his daughter was safely out the door, Louis ran up to his bedroom and threw on a white, grey, and black color blocked FILA hoodie - one of his favorites. He grabbed the first pair of clean sweatpants he could find to match it, a grey pair with the Kappa logo down the sides before he trudged out the door with his gym bag thrown over his shoulder. At the last second, he grabbed a black baseball cap and stuffed it down over his head. He had showered, so his hair was damp and unruly. Lindsey, his hairdresser for show days, preferred when he didn’t try and do anything with his hair before she got her hands on it.

Louis liked riding the T early on Saturday mornings. It was generally quiet and mildly less twitchy and problem-ridden than an average rush hour. He snagged a single seat next to one of the sets of doors and settled in for the ride. Because he was going to see Harry Styles the next day, he had decided to give his album an actual listen for the first time.

It definitely was outside of the norm for pop music of the day, in the sense that it felt like an actual album that could be listened to all in one sitting like an LP, the way albums used to be produced when vinyl was the most popular vehicle for music.

He started Harry’s album from the beginning again and navigated to Harry's Instagram to see if he couldn’t learn a little more about this person that his daughter was so obsessed with nowadays.

The night before when he had started listening to the album he asked Cat why she loved Harry so much. At first, she responded with an, “Ugh, Daaaaaad,” like Louis was a great burden to society for even wondering. But then, eventually, she explained that he was “fun,” and, “cool.” Still not the clearest adjectives, but he didn’t get much farther.

The song “Kiwi” and its heavy upbeat guitar was pounding in his ears as he made his way up the stairs at the Copley station and across the square to NBS headquarters just beyond Trinity Church.

Louis hadn’t had a second tea yet that morning, so he decided to swing by the employee cafe in the lobby. He swiped his badge and took a look a the line. Almost out the door. Great. He popped one earbud out of his ear and took his place at the end of the line, but unlocked his phone to text Niall.

 **Louis** : Do I have any tea upstairs?

 **Niall** : No doesn’t look like it.

 **Louis** : That was way too fast. Are you hanging out in my office again?

 **Niall** : Define hanging out.

“Hello,” a voice murmured over Louis’ shoulder, interrupting his reply momentarily. Louis glanced up to see who the voice could be talking to, but he didn’t see anyone, so he went back to typing out his stern warning for Niall.

“Your phone must be very interesting,” the voice quipped. This time when Louis looked up, he also darted a look over his shoulder. What he saw made him do a double take.

The man behind him in line was smiling at him, making eye contact. His crystal clear green eyes were filled with mirth as they briefly traveled the length of Louis’ body, made even more pronounced by the fact that they were only standing a foot apart from each other, so he had to work pretty hard to see all the way down to the floor.

If Louis hadn’t been so shocked or had his wits about him at all, he would have squirmed under the blatantly interested perusal, regretting his very _very_ casual sweatpants and hoodie. But as it was, he had taken one look at the stupid train conductor hat on top of the guys head and blanched.

Harry Styles was talking to him. Harry Styles was checking him out. Harry Styles was interested enough to say hello to him. Harry Styles said hello.

“Hi,” Louis breathed out, still staring. He shook his head. “Sorry, I didn’t realize you were talking to me.”

“Why wouldn’t I be talking to you?” Harry asked.

That brought Louis up short. “Well, I don’t know. Because you’re… you?”

Harry shrugged. “Yeah, I’m me, but you’re cute.” He smiled widely then, causing his cheek to dimple. Louis went a little weak in the knees, he couldn’t deny it. In his research over the past few days, he had heard about Harry’s charm, but it was something else entirely to experience it for himself.

Not knowing what else to do, Louis held out his hand. “Hi, I’m Louis. Louis Tomlinson.”

Harry’s smile somehow continued to grow as he clasped Louis’ hand in his own… very large hand. Louis shifted his body weight to hide the evidence of his continual knee-weakening. “I know, from _Match of the Day_. Love your show. I’m Harry.”

“Yeah, man, I know,” Louis laughed. “I thought your show wasn’t until tomorrow?”

“I’m just here doing some promo. Some taped interviews for the future. That kind of thing.”

Louis nodded, “Makes sense. I’m going to assume we don’t have one for my show, though.”

Harry giggled and Louis was beyond endeared. “No, probably not.” He nodded towards the front of the cafe, alerting Louis to the fact that the line had moved significantly.

Louis turned away from him for a moment, at the very least to let himself gather his thoughts. Niall was right, Harry Styles was definitely gay. To be fair, Louis didn’t know what Harry identified as, so he could be anything under the queer umbrella, but he definitely was _not_ straight. Not with the way he had just checked Louis out so thoroughly or flirted with him.

The thing was, they were flirting under false pretenses technically. Louis felt like he needed to set the record straight before it went any further.

“Listen,” he started when he turned back around. “I have to tell you, my daughter is absolutely your biggest fan.”

Harry’s gaze shuttered a bit, and Louis wished he could take it back, but Harry needed to know. Both about Cat, and the fact that she was a fan. He probably hated dealing with fans. Even though Louis knew Cat was the coolest, he didn’t expect Harry to with no prior knowledge.

“Probably not the biggest,” Harry said, his smile faded to less than a quarter of its former glory.

“I don’t know, man, she loves you a lot,” Louis replied, defending his daughter’s honor against such a slight.

“I only meant to say that she can’t be very old if she’s your daughter,” Harry replied.

Louis nodded, “She’s nine.” Harry was nodding in response but didn’t say anything else. “I’m thirty-two,” Louis added with a wink trying to bring the flirty atmosphere back.

The corner of Harry’s mouth quirked up but he was still a bit more subdued and had dropped the clear interest.

“I didn't see a ring,” Harry offered unexpectedly.

So it hadn't been Cat that had killed the mood per se. Harry thought he was straight or married or both.

“No, you didn't,” Louis replied cheekily.

“Tea, Louis?” the cashier called over her counter.

“Yeah, thanks Angie.” He turned to her, glad she knew him well enough to politely pull him out of the little world he and Harry had created.

Angie stepped away to pour his hot water, and Louis didn’t turn around. If Harry was really interested, it might do Louis some good to make him sweat a bit.

When she finally handed him the hot cup, he paid her for the tea, and he spun around to face Harry. As he faced Harry, he watched Harry’s gaze snap up from somewhere in the vicinity of his ass.

Harry rolled his lips in and tried to look innocent.

“Well, see you around, Harry.” Louis nodded, not giving anything away. Harry certainly didn’t know Louis was supposed to attend his concert the next day. He sped away quickly, not giving Harry the chance to catch up to him.

The last thing he heard was Harry’s deep voice apologizing to Angie for holding up the line.

Louis smiled to himself as he got on the elevator. Meeting Harry Styles had certainly gone a little differently than he had expected.

He was still smiling when he got off the elevator on his floor. Niall materialized to join him on the walk to his office like he always did. Louis was beginning to suspect that he had an alarm.

“What are you so smiley about?” Niall asked poking him in the side, almost making Louis upend his hot tea.

“Nothing, God. You’re the worst. I almost just spilled my tea all over you. Then where would I be?”

“Well, I would be in the hospital with third-degree burns.”

“Exactly,” Louis pointed out, “and it would have been your own fault.”

“Listen, I just got a call from Harry Styles' manager. I was just going to get you comp tickets, but when I said who you were, he said they would all be VIP passes and you would have your own separate place to stand. He must be a fan of yours or something,” Niall shrugged in disbelief as they entered Louis’ office and he sat down at his desk.

“Something like that," he paused. "How ‘just’ is ‘just’?” Louis asked, suspiciously, as he put his tea down and turned on his computer.

Niall unlocked his phone to check the time. “Not two minutes before you got upstairs. He said they’re in the building for promo.”

“Yeah, I heard that rumor,” Louis said, realization dawning. International pop star Harry Styles was trying to impress him with VIP passes.

Butterflies erupted in Louis’ stomach as he bit down on his smile once again.

“Seriously, what is up with you?” Niall asked.

“What?” Louis asked, pulled out of his Harry induced daze. “Oh. Nothing. It’s nothing.”

Niall plopped down in the chair in Louis’ office again. The simple solution would be to get rid of the chair; Louis felt like he would be a lot more productive if he did that. But then Cat wouldn’t have a place to sit when she came to visit, so he resolved to keep the chair and find another way to Niall-proof it.

Louis waited for Niall to say something, but he didn’t. He just sat there scrutinizing Louis to the point that he was beginning to feel uncomfortable.

“What?” he asked again.

“You’ve met someone,” Niall declared. “Tell me more.”

“This is not a schoolyard, and you are not a T-Bird,” Louis said dismissively.

“And you’re no fun.”

Louis nodded, turning to his computer to try and aggressively pretend like he was working to make Niall go away and change the subject. “That is very true. I am not fun. You should go find someone who is fun.”

“Where did you meet him? Train? Elevator?” Niall prodded.

Louis shook his head. “No.”

Niall studied him some more as he took a sip of his tea.

“Hah! The cafe. You met him in the cafe.”

Louis almost spit his tea back out. “Goodbye, Niall.”

“Well that just proves that you _did_.” Niall got up from the chair and started running out the door. “Leeeyum,” he called for his assistant producer. “Louis met a boy!” he yelled across the whole office bullpen.

“No I didn’t!” He yelled from his office, making a mild attempt to save his reputation.

The next thing he knew, the assistant producer Liam Payne was poking his head through Louis’ office door. “You met a boy?” he asked.

“No. No, I definitely did not meet a boy.”

“Niall said you did,” Liam protested, his brow furrowed.

“Out!” Louis yelled, picking up the small stuffed turtle that usually sat on his desk and throwing it in the vicinity of Liam’s head. “All of you! Leave me alone!”

“Louis is testy today,” Liam called out in a stage whisper.

Louis wanted to bang his head against the wall.

 

After Liam’s warning, he ended up getting a lot more done. He finalized the script so they could make the teleprompter changes if they needed to, and he kept track of the games that were playing as he was getting ready. Later, after almost all of the games were finished, he would go live for the show.

He had his feet propped up while he was flipping between the games. They had interns to watch each one and take all of the more specific notes he needed, but he still wanted to watch as much as he could.

 

After the final game was done, he left his office to head to hair and makeup. His hairdresser Lindsey forced him now to finish with her before she supervised his wardrobe. He apparently had a reputation for messing up either one or both of her Herculean efforts to make him look presentable enough for television.

He plopped down in her chair.

“What’s happening, doll?” she asked as he shifted to get comfortable.

“Nothing,” he replied. Though he knew he would end up spilling to her eventually. She was the only one with the power to extract his secrets. Something about the magic of a hairdresser’s chair.

She got straight to work wetting his hair again so that she could sculpt it up and away from his face into something presentable.

When she was finally done with the blow dryer, the room rang eerily quiet for a moment as his ears adjusted.

“What are you up to tomorrow?” he asked her. She had a daughter named Lily who was about five, and Cat loved to play with her and show her around. Together they were a pair of terrors.

“We’ve got passes to the show in Copley Square,” she proclaimed brightly.

Louis froze. “To Harry Styles’ show?”

“Yeah, he’s the nicest guy. Just offered them to me. He paid for me to keep the salon open after hours so he could come in and get his hair cut the other day. Apparently, he gave his own hairdresser some time off to visit her family in Japan. He needs me to do his hair and makeup for the show first, but then we’re good to watch.”

“Can I not escape this man?” Louis groaned.

Lindsey gave a particularly rough tug on his hair with a comb. “What’s going on?”

Louis paused, silent for a minute as he decided how to phrase it. He hadn’t told anyone about meeting Harry yet, about how Harry had hit on him. If he told Lindsey it became real. Or, Harry was a mercurial pop star, didn’t appreciate being toyed with, and forgot Louis as soon as he left his sight so he really had nothing to worry about.

“I met him,” he mumbled.

“Really?” she asked, eyes alight with excitement before she studied his body language. “Why did you say it like that?”

“He kind of… flirted with me.”

“Really?” she asked again with a more leading tone.

“Yeah,” Louis bit his lip and smiled as he thought about Harry’s cute little giggle.

“Oh, so it’s like that is it?” she smirked at him in the mirror as she shaped his quiff.

“No, it’s not,” he trailed off.

She just kept smirking at him as she continued to tug at his hair more violently than usual.

When Lindsey was done with both his hair and his face, they made their way to wardrobe where she helped him get his shirt and suit on for the broadcast.

They still had a few more minutes to air so he took his seat behind his anchor desk, double checked the script in front of him, and got his ear piece set.

“Check one-two,” Niall called in his ear.

“Loud and clear, Ni,” Louis affirmed.

“Five minutes to air,” Niall announced over the PA system the same way he did every Saturday night, and they started the show.

 

 **_Oh, my, my, you just took me by surprise  
_ ** **_And I can't believe my eyes  
_ ** **_Oh, I must be seeing blind  
_ ** **_Oh no, now you're too good to be all mine  
_ ** **_Now I'm looking in your eyes  
_ ** ******_Oh, I must be seeing blind_**

The next morning something jolted Louis out of the deep sleep that only came after an exhausting show night.

He slapped his hand around on his bedside table before he finally landed on his phone. Blindly, he swiped to answer the call.

“Daddy!” Cat was yelling loud enough that he instinctively pulled the phone away from his ear momentarily. “I get to see Harry today!”

“Yeah, Kitty Cat, you do,” he grumbled, letting his eyes slip closed. He expected her to go on but she didn’t. The next voice he heard was Jimmy’s.

“Sorry, Lou, she really wanted to call you.” His voice was equally grumbly, so Louis could only assume she woke him up as well.

Louis grunted in response and solidarity before they both hung up the call.

Cat still didn’t know that she very well could be meeting Harry today, she just thought that they were going to the show because at the time he only thought Niall would be able to get him tickets to the show.

But now, they had VIP passes, because something about him must have impressed Harry. Or Harry was just a really nice guy. At that thought, Louis' eyes shot open.

As he stared at the ceiling, he thought about the other implications that came with Harry meeting Cat.

Louis couldn’t deny that he wanted to sleep with Harry. Some part of Harry wanted to sleep with Louis as well, if Louis hadn’t ruined it by being a tease. Presumably, if Harry had offered up the VIP passes, Louis hadn’t ruined it, but he didn’t want to assume anything.

It had been quite awhile since he had a night of fun. Maybe he should convince Bridget to keep Cat overnight and take her to school the next morning. They had done it before when Louis had to be out of town for filming.

He knew he was taking a lot of leaps, but it really had been a long time since he had slept with anyone. There had been a guy at Niall and Jenny’s wedding. Depressingly, Louis realized that Naill and Jenny had just recently celebrated their one year anniversary.

That was why he hated sleeping with people at weddings, there was always an annual reminder.

There was no real reason for him to refuse if Harry offered again.

 _No_ , Louis thought to himself as he slapped a hand over his eyes and took a few deep breaths. Of course there was a good reason for him to refuse Harry Styles. Cat. If Cat found out later in life that he had slept with her childhood hero she would never forgive him.

When Louis thought about it like that, it made him feel sleazy. He couldn’t do that to his daughter.

But, at the same time, Harry was so attractive. Surely by the time she found out she might at least understand on _that_ level.

That led him down a very dark train of thought involving her being grown up enough to date. He had vowed a long time ago not to be one of those fathers that was strict about dating, but that didn’t mean it didn’t terrify him.

Louis spent the rest of the morning lounging around, enjoying his weekend, and ended up taking way too much time to pick out his outfit. He went with a white scoop neck t-shirt, tan suede jacket, and some tight black skinny jeans. It was very casual, but also showed off a bit of the tattoo on his chest.

Harry had a lot of tattoos. Louis had seen them when he hit rock bottom and had Googled “Harry Styles shirtless” the night before. It had taken him all of thirty seconds to find an incredible photo shoot where his hair was much longer than it had been in the cafe. He was wearing a sexy leather collar and looked so peaceful, and the photo was so detailed that Louis could see the smooth texture of his skin.

He made himself lock his phone when he felt himself actually salivate, and begin to tent his sweatpants. The same sweatpants he had been wearing when he met Harry.

Louis was only somewhat ashamed of how little time it had taken him to jerk off in the shower.

The trains were running especially slow because it was Sunday, so he had to wait awhile before a train showed up. He was still running at least an hour early so he could meet Cat, Bridget, and Jimmy at his office but he was nervous.

He got off the train and walked through the square, craning his neck to study the stage set up. Louis wasn’t even sure what this concert was actually for, only that it was being presented by NBS and would air the following week.

When he walked into his office, two of his sisters - Daisy and Phoebe - were already there waiting, snacking on a platter of sandwiches and fruit, shooting the breeze with Niall.

“What’s this then?” Louis asked the room.

“Lou!” Daisy exclaimed jumping up to give him a big hug. Both she and Phoebe always looked like they were Instagram ready all the time. They had amassed a substantial following on their own. His name wasn’t exactly one they could trade on very much. It couldn’t have gotten them far.

He greeted Phoebe as well as they continued their conversation with Niall about some internet star or other that Louis really didn’t have the time or inclination to follow.

Puttering around his office, Louis largely ignored their chatter until he heard Harry’s name.

“Can you believe what Harry’s fans found out about her?” Daisy asked.

“No!” Niall replied, just as enthusiastically, like _he_ was the twenty-year-old undergrad gossiping about a famous singer.

“Found out about who?” The question was out before Louis had even registered that his mouth was forming the words.

All three of them looked at him with varying levels of incredulity. “His so-called girlfriend,” Phoebe was the first to respond. “The fans found a bunch of not-so-nice stuff about her online.”

Louis tried not to ask, he really did. “What do you mean so-called?”

Daisy and Phoebe both looked at him like they couldn’t believe he had functioned in society for the thirty-two years he had been on Earth. Niall sat back in his chair smugly.

This time Daisy broke first, “Because he’s gay. Duh.”

Somehow protective of Harry even though he had only spoken to him for about five minutes and a handful of sentences, Louis got a bit defensive of Harry’s closet. “How do _you_ know that?”

“It’s been the worst kept secret for the last few years,” Phoebe replied, “He’s always waving rainbow flags around at his concerts and stuff.”

“But he hasn’t come out of the closet yet?” Louis asked, more curious than he had any right to be.

Niall cut in, “Not explicitly, no. But he’s made lots of statements about not labeling his sexuality.”

Louis raised an eyebrow at his best friend who knew much more about this than he had initially let on, “Just theories on the internet, then?”

“I like his style,” Niall replied petulantly.

Something occurred to Louis, “Does Cat know?”

“She loves that he’s so supportive, because of you,” Daisy replied sweetly.

Floored, Louis leaned back in his chair. A few years ago, he came to the realization that he needed to explain himself to Cat on the off chance that he met someone and wanted to have a long term relationship. He had sat Cat down and had a frank discussion about what it meant that he liked boys instead of girls, and how it was totally normal. Anyone could love anyone they wanted to, and he would love her no matter who she loved when she was old enough (he had stressed that part).

Louis knew she enjoyed rainbows and anything that was LGBT+ positive, but he had never thought about what that would mean for the people she admired. In all her ramblings about Harry she had never mentioned it.

He had said it before, but his kid was so cool.

“So, Harry’s girlfriend?” he asked trying to play innocent.

Phoebe shook her head, “Total bullshit.”

“Hey, watch the language, Cat will be here soon.” She rolled her eyes.

As if he had summoned her, he could hear Cat and Bridget chatting animatedly as they made their way down the hall. When she entered his office, eyes bright, she greeted everyone else there before she rounded Louis’ desk and climbed up in his lap.

Everyone had warned him that at a certain point she would think she was too cool for stuff like that, but she hadn’t hit it yet, and Louis was going to milk it until she did.

“Oof,” he grunted when she hopped up, legs dangling across his own.

“What’s up, Dad?” she asked quietly, just for him.

“Nothing, Kitty Cat. You excited?” he reached one hand up to brush her hair back from her face.

“Yes!” she started doing a dorky little dance in place on his lap. The sudden movement startled a laugh out of him until she elbowed him in the gut.

“Alright, alright,” he wheezed.

“Look! I’ve got my Kiwi shirt on!”

When he looked down he saw that her shirt was a light pink with actual kiwis embroidered all over the front. “Beautiful.”

Niall stood up and clapped his hands, “Who’s ready for some Harry Styles?!”

Everyone in his office, Bridget, Jimmy, his sisters, all cheered as Cat jumped up and down with excitement.

“Oh, kitty Cat, I almost forgot to tell you, Lindsey and Lily will be here too. I’m not sure if they’ll be in our section, but they’ll be here.” Louis grabbed his daughter’s hand as she started tugging him out of his office, eager to get going.

Daisy called after him, “Lottie and Tommy are coming too!”

Louis rolled his eyes. He wasn’t prepared for every single member of his family to meet the guy with whom he was planning a casual fling. Great.

As a group, they exited the NBS building and made their way downstairs to the square where the stage was set up with the church in the background. There was a cordoned off section down in front and Niall led them all there right up to the event staff member holding a very official looking clipboard. Niall said something, she checked her list, and just like that they were all let into the VIP area.

Cat had a firm grip on his hand and was staring at the stage, wide eyed. She started squealing, “Look at how close we are!” she was bouncing in place, testing the limits of Louis’ wingspan as she tried to get as close to the barrier as she could.

Daisy and Phoebe were both furiously texting on their phones, and he had his answer to why when not only did his oldest sister Lottie show up with her boyfriend, but they brought his next oldest sister Felicite as well.

“Did anyone invite mom and Dan and the twins? You know, just to round out the whole clan,” he mumbled sarcastically.

“I called her, but she said they had a thing tonight,” Niall replied.

“Oh my God, Niall.” Louis didn’t have the chance to protest any more because Cat was pulling him up close, and the opening act was starting. They were a female band called MUNA and Cat really enjoyed them, using the top of the barrier to jump and dance around, and Louis found himself enjoying their pop beats as well. He would need to remember to add them to their playlist for mornings when they were both trying to wake up enough that they could get Cat out the door to school.

That was why, when they got to what was clearly their hit, Louis was surprised when Cat stopped dancing almost immediately and began tugging on his arm.

“What’s wrong?” he yelled over the music.

She said something back but he couldn’t understand so he shook his head and leaned in closer.

“That’s Gemma,” she yelled pointing to a random woman father down the barrier, closer to the backstage area.

Louis leaned back a bit and shrugged. Cat tugged him closer.

“She’s Harry’s sister!”

Louis was simultaneously curious and mortified. The woman Cat was - very subtly for a nine-year-old - pointing out was standing next to an attractive older woman with dark brown hair. He could only assume that was Harry’s mother. While he was glad his own mother wasn’t there, he couldn’t help but be endeared that Harry’s was.

He nodded and smiled in understanding and Cat went back to watching MUNA. Louis could tell that her attention wasn’t entirely on them, though, because she kept glancing over to where Harry’s family was standing. The woman, Gemma, clearly held some significance for Cat if she could recognize her on sight.

The sun was finally setting over the buildings when MUNA ended their set. The crew immediately came out to change over the stage.

Cat tugged on his arm again and looked up at him pleadingly, but unsure.

“Do you think I should say hello?” she asked him.

Louis was confused. “Say, hello to who? Gemma?” She nodded. Cat had always been comfortable around adults, talking to adults. Probably from interacting with so many of Louis’ siblings, or from her naturally outgoing personality. “If you want to, Kitty Cat.”

She looked apprehensive still, thinking it over. But eventually, she nodded, taking his hand again. Apparently, he was going with her. They pulled away from the barrier, and Louis signaled to Daisy to save a place with a good view for when they came back. There weren’t that many people in the VIP section, but he didn’t want to take any chances.

He only had a few feet to figure out how he was going to navigate this interaction just in case Cat got nervous, but he needn’t have worried. She dragged him right up behind the two women.

“Excuse me, please, Miss Gemma?” Louis almost cried at her good manners.

The woman was incredibly poised and put together up close. Her straight dark brown hair fell to about her shoulders, and she pushed her sunglasses up off of her nose and onto the crown of her head before bending down a bit to talk to Cat. Louis bristled for a second, unsure as to how she may react.

“Well, hello there!” the woman said kindly. Louis felt a bit of tension leave his body.

“Hi. Um…. My name is Catherine, and I just wanted to say that I really like the stuff you put on Twitter.” Louis blanched at that. His _daughter_ was looking at _Twitter_. Oh, God. He really needed to talk to Bridget about more parental controls. “Like, about things that bother you… and… how girls can, um, do whatever they want.”

“Thank you, Catherine, that’s very nice of you to say. I’m Gemma, and it’s nice to officially meet you.” She held her hand out for Cat to shake. Cat waited until the very last second to let go of Louis’ hand, but she did. Louis was bursting with pride.

Gemma bent down all the way so she was squatting in her clearly designer outfit, hovering just above the bricks that made up the pathways in the square, looking up at Cat. “I’m so glad you like that stuff, and it helps me to know that girls like you are paying attention.”

“This is my dad,” Cat said, startling Louis out of his admiration of her. Gemma shifted her weight and stood back up to her full height.

“Hello,” she said just as kindly holding her hand out again. “I’m Gemma.”

“Louis, nice to meet you.”

Her eyes widened, “Louis! Tomlinson, right? My stepdad loves your show.”

Louis blushed and thanked her, never really prepared for people recognizing him. As he did he made eye contact with the woman he suspected was Harry’s mother and she finally spoke up.

“Hello Louis, Catherine,” she nodded and smiled to them both in turn, “It’s lovely to meet you. I’m Anne, Harry and Gemma’s mom.”

Cat’s eyes widened a bit more. “Hello,” she said more shyly this time.

Anne smiled at them, and they were about to continue the conversation when the lighting changed in the now darkened square, and Harry’s band members began to file out onto the stage.

Cat began to jump up and down and rush back to the barrier, and Louis did his best to wave goodbye to Anne and Gemma. When he looked back at them, they were both smiling indulgently, neither offended by their abrupt exit.

His fierce little girl darted in between what were clearly some members of Harry’s team to join Daisy and take her former place at the front of the barrier. Thankfully, they too watched her with amusement. She was quickly joined by Lily, who Lindsey helped put her feet in the barrier to give her a big enough boost up that she could see over the top of it.

Cat was safe with Daisy and Lindsey, so Louis hung back a bit taking in their crowd. An only-just-showing pregnant Lottie was standing with her boyfriend; Bridget and Jimmy were there, Lindsey, her husband Corey, Lily, his sisters, his daughter, and Niall rounded it out. Not to mention Harry’s family. They weren’t exactly an international popstar caliber crowd.

Louis sighed resignedly. There was no way Harry was going to consider him a viable sexual candidate anymore. He was in full suburban single dad mode.

 _Oh, well_. He thought to himself as he settled in to watch the show.

 

And what a show it was. Louis’ ears were still ringing and his mind still reeling after whatever _that_ was that he had just watched. Harry had been magnetic. Drawing the crowd in like nothing Louis had ever seen before.

There had been some blatantly sexual moments, and they were close enough in the VIP area that Louis could see each and every one of them, and then again ten times larger up on the big screen.

Harry had done this thing sticking his tongue out of the corner of his mouth when he smirked… It had made Louis blush and look around stealthily to make sure none of his family and friends were watching him.

The rest of it was kind of a blur. Louis felt like he had been in a vortex, but then as soon as it was done he forgot everything about what he had seen. The one moment he did remember was Harry blowing kisses and waving to the VIP section.

After Harry had done his encore and left the stage, Louis went looking for Cat with the intention of getting out of the crowd and making their way back to the NBS building to pick up her bag out of Bridget’s car. Instead, he found himself being led through a break in the barrier into a tent covered area with the rest of the VIPs. The cops had blocked off the whole block of St. James in front of the Copley Plaza Hotel and weren’t letting anybody walk there, except everyone from the VIP group, oddly, as they crossed the street with an escort.

He figured it out soon enough as they were led directly into the gleaming marble, gold, and red velvet lobby of the hotel and towards the function rooms he had been to before for various meetings and events.

Cat really was going to get to meet Harry and he was officially the best dad ever.

“Daddy?” she called from ahead of him where she was walking briskly with the twins. When she saw him she let go of their hands and let him catch up to her. “Do you know where we’re going?” she asked.

He feigned innocence, “Nope. No idea. Just a special exit I think.”

As he said that, the caravan of people that had been in the section with them turned to the right into one of the smaller rooms that he knew was called the St. James Room. It was one of the most traditional ornate rooms in the entire hotel, but with it’s dark paneling and soaring floor to ceiling windows, it was also Louis’ favorite.

When they all made their way in, there were tables and chairs set up with a buffet table filled with food. Louis’ stomach grumbled and he realized it was after dinner time. He had no idea if the food was intended for them, though.

Harry’s team and his family began to mingle with each other, while Louis’ own large group started to close ranks a bit. There were a few other pockets of people here and there but no one was going for the food, to Louis’ dismay.

“Daddy,” Cat whispered, “Where are we?”

He didn’t have a chance to answer because a guy in one of the black hoodies that all of the crew members were wearing cleared his throat.

“Hey guys, Harry should be down in a second. He just wanted to shower. Help yourself to the food,” he nodded at the buffet table.

Louis was just pondering over the fact that he hadn’t explicitly said ‘except for all of you over there,’ to Louis’ guests, so he needed to grab Cat a plate when he felt his fingers break in her grip.

She was looking around confused.

“Hey, look,” Louis prodded. “There are Gemma and Anne.” He was trying to ease her into the idea that she was going to meet Harry, and he made sure to watch her face. When she finally did realize, her reaction was comical.

Cat’s eyes got very large, and her back went ramrod straight. She plastered herself even closer to Louis’ side. “Dad,” she hissed. “What did you do?”

“I may have pulled a few strings,” he gloated. He could tell she was terrified, but again, he needed to thank his mom, because he could tell that it was nerves, and she wasn’t necessarily upset yet. If at any point he felt the shift, he would get her out of there as quickly as possible, but for now he knew she would regret it if they left.

“Technically, I pulled a few strings,” Niall pointed out from behind him.

Harry chose that moment to make his entrance, heading straight for his mother and Gemma. The energy in the room changed a bit, became a bit more charged, but not much. These were all people that were used to being around Harry all the time. Louis got the sense that he really treated his crew like family.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw some people going for the food on the far side of the room, and his sisters all followed suit. “Hey Kitty Cat, do you want to get something to eat?”

She shook her head, “Not right now,” she mumbled. He gave her hand a squeeze as he searched for one of his family members. He caught Lottie’s eye first and through a series of one-handed gestures indicated that she should make a plate for Cat. Thankfully, she caught on quickly and nodded.

Cat’s grip getting impossibly tighter was about all the warning he had before he saw that Harry was coming over to them. He was headed straight for them. His hair was semi-dry and fluffed up, falling naturally in a deep side part, curling over his forehead and cute little ears.

When he caught Louis’ eye, he smirked, and Louis tried to shift his body behind his daughter to make it clear what the purpose of his attendance was, but instead of warning Harry off, instead, Louis got ignored.

That was really the best word for it when Harry stopped in front of them and immediately dropped down to make sure he was below Cat’s level just like his sister had over an hour earlier with a lot less care for his skinny black jeans.

“Hi,” he smiled with the most devastating sideways grin, “I’m Harry.”

Louis expected Cat to greet Harry the same way she had his sister, with manners and a somewhat practiced speech. She surprised him again, though, when she dropped Louis’ hand and launched herself at Harry, draping her arms over his shoulders. It was a credit to Harry’s core strength that he didn’t fall backwards.

Louis had no idea what to say, but soon Harry giggled the same way he had when they were in line at the cafe the day before.

“This is Catherine,” Louis supplied dumbly. Harry met his gaze again and nodded minutely before letting out a sharp laugh.

“Oh, I can call you Cat? Are you sure?” Cat must have said something, but her face was buried in Harry’s shoulder so Louis couldn’t hear her. “Thanks! I’m honored... Did you enjoy the show?” Harry paused, listening. “Good, I’m so glad.” Cat shifted her weight and now visibly whispered something in Harry’s ear. “Is that so?” he asked.

Cat nodded as she finally pulled away, “Yeah,” she was smiling widely now.

“Well, I’m glad,” he looked up at Louis briefly and winked before standing up to his full height. “I have to say hi to a few other people, but I’m really hungry. If I meet you back here,” he pointed to the round table next to them, “in just a few minutes, can I join you and your Dad for dinner?”

“Yeah,” she repeated.

“It’s a plan. You go grab some food, and I’ll tell Jeff where to put my plate, okay?” Harry nodded before holding up his hand for a high five.

Louis signalled to Lottie again where she was hovering a few feet away. She put Cat’s plate down at the table, then sat down with her while Louis went to go grab his own.

He blindly filled a plate with some things from the buffet, and it felt a bit like Supermarket Sweep.

When he turned back around there was a full plate and an empty seat next to Cat with another empty seat between her and Lottie. He was ready to tell Harry off for not coming back to the table and ruining his kid’s hopes and dreams, but Harry was only delayed by a few minutes before he did actually join them.

It was an odd feeling, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Earlier in the evening he had made the observation that his crowd wasn’t exactly fit for an international popstar, but as Gemma, Anne, Niall, and Lottie’s boyfriend Tommy rounded out the other seats at the table, Louis felt his perception begin to shift.

This wasn’t exactly the sex, drugs, and Rock ‘n’ Roll he had expected of Harry. Instead it was homey, subdued, with kids running around. In addition to Lily and Cat Louis had spotted two more hanging out with the bassist.

He kept expecting there to be a catch to Harry. He was attractive, more importantly, he thought Louis attractive, and he was good with Cat. To make matters worse, his family was also lovely. Louis wasn’t sure why exactly that made it worse, but it definitely did.

Louis found himself to be relatively unnecessary. Harry and Cat were chatting away about things Louis wasn’t able to follow.

Tommy and Niall were locked in a discussion about a game, which normally Louis would have joined in with, but Lottie was in the way, talking to Gemma and Anne across the table about some mutual friend they had discovered.

The groups had all mixed seamlessly, and Harry was one of the hottest men he had ever seen who was also good with kids, and Louis felt the panic rising in his chest on the crest of a wave. A wave he had only felt a few times in his life before.

He was confident that with his whole family nearby, Cat would be okay if he left her alone for a moment, so he interrupted her and Harry’s conversation with a tap on her arm.

“Kitty Cat, I’m going to run to the restroom, okay?” he asked, avoiding Harry’s gaze.

“Okay, Dad,” she replied around a mouthful of macaroni and cheese.

“Manners,” he lightly reminded her before pushing away from the table and walking briskly towards the function room doors.

Louis knew there was a restroom in the main hallway somewhere, and he located it tucked away off to the side near the grand ballroom.

After he relieved himself, he washed his hands before splashing some of the cold water on his face. He stared at his reflection for a moment. He needed to face the music; he had a big fat crush on Harry Styles, popstar. Household name. Louis covered his face with his hands and groaned.

When he was ready, he pushed back out into the hallway. He had only made it a few steps before an invisible door opened, and a hand reached out and dragged him inside a dark room.

The door was shut again before he even had the chance to scream and he heard more than saw an arm reach up and switch on the light.

Louis was officially standing in a broom closet with a dimpled, smiley, Harry Styles.

“Hello!” Harry said.

“Hello, crazy person,” Louis breathed out.

Harry looked around at all of the janitorial supplies. “Yeah, this may not have been my best idea, but I needed to improvise.”

“ _Why_ did you need to improvise?” Louis asked, incredulous. “Wait, no. First question, where is my daughter?”

Harry rolled his eyes, “Calm down, Louis. Almost your entire family was in that room with us.”

“Fine,” he relented. “Wait, no. How do you know that?”

“Cat told me,” Harry shrugged. “She’s a great girl, you should be very proud.”

“Yeah, I know, but I’m still missing where the broom closet was a necessity.”

Harry had the decency to look sheepish, “I wanted to talk to you, but you know, without all of the…” he waved his hands around in the direction of the St. James room.

“Oh,” Louis relaxed a bit, warmth blooming in his chest. “Okay.”

The stood there for a second, staring at each other. Given how close they had to stand, Louis could feel Harry’s body heat as his chest rose and fell with his breathing.

“You got rid of the sweatpants,” Harry said matter-of-factly.

“What?” Louis asked.

Harry rushed to correct himself, “Don’t get me wrong, you look really hot tonight, but I’m pretty sure Jeff needed to revive me after I saw you in the cafe yesterday.”

Louis was confused. “Really? Sweatpants?” The rags he had worn yesterday?

“Do me a favor and next time you wear them check out how good both your ass and your dick look in them,” Harry said unapologetically.

Louis choked on his own spit when he inhaled sharply. “Oh my God.”

“I’m sorry, I know that’s forward, but we don’t have much time before someone comes looking for me, and I need you to know something,” Harry said quickly.

“I’m listening,” Louis croaked out.

“I really like you,” Harry was making intense eye contact with him. “I would like to sleep with you, but I’m not a friends with benefits kind of guy, so I would also like to date you,” he finished with a nod of his head. It felt a bit like he had rehearsed this speech the same way Cat had known exactly what she had wanted to say to Gemma earlier in the evening. Louis was endeared again. Confused, but endeared.

“Really?” he asked with a vulnerability in his voice that he hadn’t expected.

Harry nodded again, “Very much so.”

“Okay,” Louis replied as he dug in his pocket and pulled out his phone. He handed it over to Harry after he had unlocked it, and watched as Harry programmed his number in and texted himself.

“I have to go to LA for a few days to do some promo, but I’d like to take you out next week. Maybe not the Friday and Saturday, though. Little crazy.”

Louis’ head was still spinning and he couldn’t quite get his bearings. “Sure, I can, um, see if Cat’s mom will take her Sunday night. Does that work?”

Harry’s smile unfurled again. “Sunday. 7:30?”

“Okay,” Louis whispered.

Harry searched his gaze. “Can I kiss you?”

“Yeah,” Louis breathed out. He was pretty sure if Harry didn’t kiss him, there wouldn't be anything grounding him in reality and he would feel like this was all a dream.

Harry leaned down and gave him a peck on the lips, just barely grazing their lips together, like they were thirteen at a school dance.

“Honestly, if we go any further than that, we may not make it out of this closet.”

At the mention of a closet, Louis was reminded of Harry’s tenuous grip on his. “How quiet should I keep this?”

Harry grimaced. “I mean, maybe don’t go to the Globe? But I wouldn’t ask you to lie for me. Whatever you’re comfortable saying.”

“I’d like to keep it between us for a bit,” Louis said, thinking of Cat and how she would react to her dad honing in on her new best friend.

“Deal,” Harry said, hand on the doorknob.

They exited as sneakily as they could before trying to walk casually down the hallway back towards the St. James room. Harry entered the function room first from one door, and Louis waited a moment before coming in the other.

The problem was not that they came back separately. The problem was that their seats were right next to each other with only Cat in between. He needn’t have worried though, because Harry made a pit stop to talk to some of his team, and Cat was off to the side playing on the carpeted floor with the younger kids.

No one noticed when Louis slid back into his seat because the table had been largely abandoned. Except for Niall.

“You know,” he started, and Louis knew they were headed for disaster. “I’ve been with you the whole afternoon, and I never once saw Harry introduce himself to you or vice versa.”

“Of course he did, maybe you just weren’t paying attention,” Louis replied defensively.

“Nope,” Niall leaned his chin on his hand. “Harry was the boy you met in the cafe wasn’t he.”

Louis scoffed, “Psh. No.”

“You’re a terrible liar, Lou.” When Louis didn’t respond, Niall dropped his act and leaned in close to him. “Look, Louis, I’m not just messing with you. I think you should go for it.”

The fight left him. “Really? You think?”

“Yes, absolutely. How long has it been since you’ve gotten laid? No, wait. Don’t answer that. I know it’s been awhile, but I don’t want to actually know.”

“You don’t think Cat will hate me forever?”

Niall was quiet for a moment before he clapped Louis on the shoulder. “I think you may have to pay for some extra therapy bills when she’s older, but you’re good for it.”

 

It took Louis about twenty minutes post Harry vortex to realize that something wasn’t quite right.

Their group had split up, heading off to various train and bus stations to make their way home, but a small portion of them walked back to the NBS building.

Bridget and Jimmy said goodbye while Niall, Louis, and a thoroughly exhausted Cat gathered up her bag that she had taken to Bridget’s apartment.

Cat had curled up in his desk chair and passed out as he and Niall chatted which wasn’t surprising given her very full and exciting day.

He was still pinching himself over what had happened with Harry earlier in the evening when something brought him up short.

“When I left Harry in the cafe the other day he still thought I might be straight or married,” Louis whispered. He turned on his best friend, “What did you do?”

Niall attempted to look innocent. It never worked. “Nothing. I don’t know what you mean.”

Louis regarded him shrewdly, intent to hold out until he cracked. It didn’t take long. “Look, his manager may have asked me about your current marital status and sexuality when we were discussing who would be coming to the show. At the time I thought it was because he had seen you on TV or something.”

“That makes me feel…” he wasn’t sure how to articulate the icky feeling that had settled in his stomach; his apprehension came from the fact that the question had come from his manager. He looked over at Cat in the chair to make sure she was still asleep. “I don’t know. Not quite like a call girl, but like a groupie or something. You know? Girl in every port.”

The perception went against everything Harry had said to him in the broom closet, but those were just words from a charming, handsome, famous popstar. Who was to say Harry hadn’t said all those things because he had seen a glimpse of Louis’ life and used the tools he had to try and sleep with him? Louis had settled near family, had a daughter; it was clear to anyone on the outside looking in that he liked stability. If Harry only wanted to coerce Louis into bed to get what was his, the little speech about not liking one night stands was exactly what Louis needed to hear. He cursed himself for being so easily drawn in.

Niall shook his head, “I don’t know him but I really don’t think it’s like that, Lou.”

That sat in silence for a moment, both processing the evening.

“I knew you met him in the cafe,” Niall gloated.

Louis threw the turtle at him.

 

 **_When I was young, my heart was always on the run  
_ ** **_But you make lovin' fun  
_ ** ******_I never knew it could be_**

By Wednesday morning, Louis needed to call Bridget. He knew that.

Knowing and doing were two very different things.

Bridget had a pretty rigorous schedule during the week, which was partly why Cat lived with Louis. His job was much more flexible. He tended to work a normal day because he liked being in the office with everyone else, but it wasn’t really a necessity.

That meant there were very specific times when he could call Bridget and not be too disruptive of her day, and they could have an actual conversation. Usually during her lunch.

He unlocked his phone.

12:13pm

He absolutely _could_ call her right now, and she would pick up. Louis sighed and brought up his call history.

The phone rang a few times before she answered. “Hey, Lou.”

“Hey, Bridge. What’s up?” he was stalling, but at least he was aware of that. That made it better. Sort of.

“...What’s going on?” she asked warily.

“Nothing. Just called to say hello.”

“No you didn’t.”

He took a few deep breaths. “Okay, fine. Remember how last weekend we went to the concert and I apologized for cutting into your time?”

Bridget hummed in agreement.

“Great, so, now this week, karmically, she should stay with you until Monday morning’s school drop off, and you can get that time back!” he ended brightly.

Bridget stayed quiet for a moment. “Karmically?”

“Yeah, you know, balance.”

She burst out laughing. “You’re so full of shit. You can just say you have a date, Louis. I won’t say anything.”

He groaned because she said that _now_ but he knew he was going to get grilled about it later. “I have a date.”

“Hah! Finally! Who with?”

Louis tried really hard not to be offended. “What do you mean finally?”

He heard her crunch down on one of the salads she favored at lunch. “Who are you dating? Did you meet someone at the concert? Was it one of the crew members? The bassist was wicked cute.”

“He’s married with two kids,” Louis replied petulantly.

“Okay, so not him then, unless he’s a sleazeball and you’ve had a major character adjustment.” Bridget hummed to indicate she was thinking it over, but then she stopped and was quiet for a long moment; “Oh my God.”

Louis knew in his heart of hearts that she had figured it out. “Bridget,” he warned.

“Oh my _God_ , Louis.”

“You can’t say anything,” he rushed out.

“But--”

“No, nothing,” he said firmly.

She huffed out a breath. “Fine... I mean, good for you! But, fine.”

“Will you keep Cat overnight and take her to school on Monday?”

“Are you _fucking_ kidding me? Of course I will,” Louis let himself relax. “You’re going to get laid!” she shrieked.

“Goodbye, Bridget.” Louis hung up on whatever else she was trying to say.

All told the call wasn’t as humiliating as he had expected it to be. The mother of his child now knew way more about his sex life than was strictly comfortable, but he did what had to be done.

Now all he had to do was find a way to kill time before Sunday. Harry hadn’t texted him, but he hadn’t texted Harry either. He supposed he could make the first move, but he was trying to maintain at least a modicum of mystery.

 

Harry ran out of patience first, which was a bit of an ego boost.

Louis was in the middle of a script rundown meeting when he saw his phone light up with a text message.

Harry had apparently programmed himself in with a kissy emoji after his name. Louis flipped his phone over right away so no one else at the table could see. It was something simple and cute, and probably a joke, but it made Louis blush. He could feel the tops of his ears heating up.

 **Harry** : Hi

 **Louis** : Really? Hi? That’s what you’re going with?

 **Harry** : I didn’t know what else to say. I wanted to ease into it.

 **Louis** : Ease into what?

 **Harry** : Talking about Sunday ;)

 **Louis** : What’s happening on Sunday?

 **Harry** : You. Me. Dinner. Wine?

 **Louis** : Ooooh right, Sunday.

 **Harry** : I got a reservation at a small place on Bowdoin St at 7:30

 **Louis** : Wow, Popstar. Beacon Hill?

 **Harry** : Do you want me to send a car for you?

 **Louis** : Fancier and fancier. I think I’ll manage with the good old MBTA.

 **Harry** : See you then :D

 

The anticipation kept building throughout the week, no matter how many times Louis told himself to relax and that this was just like any other date. Even though that didn’t really help given how long it had been since he had one of those.

For the date, he pulled on a simple camel colored sweater that was a little loose and paired it with his standard skinny black jeans rolled up at the bottom. He was hoping he didn’t look too much like a dad. No matter how Harry had acted after his show with all the kids and families, he thought it was probably sexier if he downplayed the dad factor.

At the very last second, he grabbed a condom and a small packet of lube and stuffed them deep in his front pocket.

Not that he was assuming anything. It was just good to be prepared for every eventuality.

The small place on Bowdoin Street ended up being very small. The restaurant, called Domenico’s, was on the garden level and had twinkly lights strung along the street level sign and banister. When Louis descended the steps, he had expected there to be some sort of entryway beyond the door but there wasn’t. There was just a heavy velvet curtain - typical around Boston to block out the wind and colder air - that Louis parted only to find himself standing near one of the tables.

The hostess had a tiny shelf taken up entirely by a reservation book, and greeted him with a friendly smile. He took a look around the ten or so tables to see if he spotted Harry, but he must not have arrived yet.

“Do you have a reservation?” she asked.

Louis lifted one of his shoulders in a half shrug. “I think so? He said he made one for 7:30?”

“For two?” Louis nodded.

“Let me see here. I have two different reservations for two people at 7:30, what’s the name?”

“Harry?” Louis asked, knowing it was a long shot. Instead of shaking her head, the hostess’ face changed, softened, into a much more genuine smile.

“Right this way, sir.”

Louis let himself be led to the back of the room where there was a small booth that was tucked in the corner behind a section of three quarter length wall on one side and partially hidden by the side of a wine cabinet on the other. The interior was draped with red curtains and accented by bottles of wine and dark wood paneling.

The hostess stepped back to let him slide into one side of the booth, and as he got closer to the table he saw that the menus were already laid out, and Harry was already sitting in the corner.

“Excuse me miss, this table is already occupied,” he joked, but the hostess had turned her back on them and was walking back towards the door.

Louis slipped into the booth as gracefully as he could, going a little bit farther into the corner than he necessarily needed to, hoping Harry would take the hint.

He must have underestimated his own appeal because Harry used the cover of Louis’ settling in his seat to shift further into the corner as well until they were sitting perpendicular to each other instead of across from each other.

When they both stopped moving, Louis put his elbows on the table and leaned forward. “Hello, there,” he said, trying to keep himself under control and not get too googly-eyed.

“Hello,” Harry murmured, grinning at him in the candlelight. The restaurant’s atmosphere was quintessentially romantic; everything was dim and cozy with candles scattered around, but nothing about it felt cheesy. Louis supposed there was enough simplicity in the decor to counteract what could have made it feel too fake.

“Hi,” Louis replied again, dumbly, completely dazzled.

“How are you?” Harry asked. They were so busy both smiling broadly at each other, taking in each other’s appearances, that neither one of them heard when the waiter came over.

“Good evening, sirs,” the man nodded, as they subtly leaned away from each other. He was carrying two bottles of red wine, and turned to address Louis, “We weren’t sure what you would prefer for wine. I have many options, but these are some of our favorites.”

Louis glanced at Harry given the man’s odd use of plurals, and found that he was studying him. “We?” he asked.

Harry shrugged, “These are my favorites here, but we can also switch to white if you would like.”

Disappointment, and that icky feeling Louis had felt with Niall the other day, began to claw it’s way up Louis’ throat, and he did his best to tamp it down as he turned back to the waiter. “What have you got?”

Louis didn’t know much about wine aside from the fact that he enjoyed it if it was red, but he tasted both options and made his choice. He tried to get Harry to choose as well, but Harry insisted he would be fine with either one. That didn’t make Louis feel any better.

“What’s wrong?” Harry asked. “Something changed.”

Louis sighed. “At the risk of sounding like a cliche… Do you do this a lot? Wine and dine?” he raised his hand to gesture to the whole restaurant.

Harry hesitated, and Louis felt the butterflies that had surged when he finally saw Harry again get washed away in a flood of disappointment.

“I used to do it a long time ago. That was a thing for me when I was twenty-two, three, four.” His voice was low and rumbling. He fiddled with the stem of his wine glass, staring at it before looking back up at Louis, a hint of desperation in his eyes. “I didn’t want to lie to you,” he added quietly.

He could feel himself beginning to thaw and melt in his chair, but he needed to stay strong. “So, when the waiter talks about you like you’re here once a week…?”

Harry’s mouth quirked up, “Not once a week, no. I take a lot of meetings here at lunchtime. It’s not as popular then.” He still hadn’t really answered the implied question, so Louis waited. “I don’t really date, actually.”

“You? Don’t date?” Louis raised his eyebrows at Harry. “You’re young, handsome, you expect me to believe that?”

Harry chuckled. “First of all, I’m pretty sure I’m only a few years younger than you if you were telling the truth when you said you were thirty-two. Second of all, it’s difficult when you’re on the road a lot.”

“Yeah, but you don’t have a nine-year-old to work around,” Louis said wryly, moments before he remembered that he was supposed to avoid reminding Harry that he was a dad.

But Harry’s whole face lit up, “Cat is lovely, by the way. I think I said that to you the other night, but to be honest that whole thing was a blur.”

Louis’ skepticism must have shown on his face because Harry rushed to correct himself; “No, I mean, I wanted to ask you out, and I remember everything that happened. I just meant that the part in the closet. When I actually did the asking. That part was a blur because I was nervous.”

Louis couldn’t help but smile, because he was fairly certain that had been the fastest he had ever heard Harry speak. He needed to bring the conversation back around to the original point, because over the past nine years he found that it was a lot easier to get all of the questions about Cat and Bridget out of the way while it was still kind of awkward, just to get it all out in the open. That way they didn’t get comfortable with each other and then hit more awkwardness later on in the conversation.

“Thanks yeah, Cat is the best,” he said subtly trying to lead Harry into the questions he expected.

Harry hesitated; “What’s the story with her? If you don’t mind me asking.”

Bingo. Louis smiled again and twirled the bottom of his wine glass against the table top. “No, it’s okay. I love talking about her.” He took a deep breath, trying to decide how much of the truth to give Harry. “Her mother and I - Bridget was at the concert last weekend - were best friends. We slept together once when we were drunk, then decided that it was a horrible idea. But, as it turns out, once is all it takes,” he ended with a self deprecating flourish.

“Wow,” Harry said, staring wide-eyed at Louis. “Was that how you figured out you were gay?”

As soon as the question was out of his mouth, Harry slapped a hand over his mouth before mumbling behind it; “Oh my God, I am so sorry. That is absolutely none of my business, and this is not an interrogation.”

Louis smirked, “Given that we’re sitting here; two men, on a date, I think it’s at least a little bit your business.” He winked at Harry and prayed that it came across as flirty and fun, not weird and creepy like when Liam tried to wink.

Harry fluttered his eyelashes and got a little bit flushed as he looked down at his menu. Well, well. Louis’ breath caught a bit; he wasn’t sure he had ever seen anything prettier than Harry Styles smiling and blushing by candlelight, his lips stained pink from the wine.

The waiter came back over to check and see if they were ready to order their first course, but when they made eye contact, Harry was still a little bit stuttery, so Louis took his cue and addressed the waiter; “I’m so sorry, we haven’t had a chance to look at all.”

The man smiled gently at them, “Would like me to provide any suggestions?” When his prompting question didn’t yield any results he continued; “I can also offer a fixed chef’s tasting menu?”

Harry raised his eyebrows at Louis, half daring him, half relieved to not have to make any choices.

Louis nodded, “That sounds lovely. Any allergies or anything, Harold?” Harry shook his head and his curls flounced around. “Decided, then. Chef’s tasting menu. Hit us with your best shot,” he said to the waiter.

The man chuckled, took their menus, and walked away only to return a few moments later to top up their wine glasses.

“If they’re going to keep doing that, you may have to pour me into a cab,” Louis joked.

The look Harry gave him was absolutely scorching, and Louis made the decision then and there that he was going to slow down on the wine, even before Harry opened his mouth; “I really don’t think you’ll have to worry about that.”

Harry’s voice was rough and suggestive, and what little conviction Louis was holding on to in regards to waiting to sleep with Harry slipped away in the night, never to be heard from again.

“It sounds like you have plans for this evening, Harold.” Louis took another sip of his wine and darted his tongue out to catch a lingering drop.

Harry’s eyes traced the path along Louis’ lip, and he visibly swallowed. “I do. Is that okay?” He leaned into Louis’ space, and Louis mirrored his action until their lips were inches apart.

Louis didn’t, couldn’t, say anything, so he simply nodded.

“We have first for you our spinaci,” the waiter said as he placed two plates down in front of them. There was a twinkle in his eye as Harry and Louis sprang apart. “Baby spinach with beets, spiced walnuts, goat cheese, finished off with a raspberry vinaigrette.”

“Thank you,” Harry cleared his throat, “It looks lovely.”

They didn’t say anything as the waiter walked away, both tucking into their salads, but Louis felt Harry hook a foot around his ankle under the table, and had to take a drink of water to combat his own flash of heat from such a simple gesture.

The salad was amazing and as soon as they finished, the waiter was bringing out their entree. Harry asked Louis questions about everyone he had brought to the concert, and when he was done, Louis asked him about his own crew, and life on the road. They talked about Louis’ show, NBS, and how Harry came to call Boston home.

They talked and laughed, and the bubble they had created for themselves closed in on them, smaller and smaller, until all Louis could process was the way Harry’s eyes glinted in the candle light. That and his tongue. Harry’s tongue was absolutely sinful, the way it curled out of his mouth ahead of each bite. Louis’ brain was a reel of images that got progressively dirtier as the night wore on; mostly starring Harry, on his knees, tongue unfurling around Louis' cock.

He needed to get a grip on himself, and he thought he was doing a fair job of it, until the waiter came around with more wine.

Louis put a hand out to stop him; “I think I’m going to stop here. Thank you, though.” He made sure to make eye contact with Harry, attempting to convey exactly what he was thinking. Their evening was going to end abruptly if either one of them got more tipsy than they already were.

As far as Louis was concerned, he was at the point where he was feeling warm and fuzzy, tipsy while still being in control of himself. If he got any drunker, he wasn’t sure he would be comfortable with where they were both sure the evening was heading.

Harry smiled at the waiter and also refused another glass. When the man was a safe distance away, Harry’s gaze became heavier, more heated. “I love this wine,” he said, draining the last sip left in his glass until all that was left were the dregs.

“So do I, it was an excellent choice,” Louis agreed.

The waiter brought over the final course, a decadent chocolate cake, but instead of two separate slices on two separate plates, he brought out one large plate with two smaller slices that looked like they had been pressed together and refrosted. It seemed as though he was trying to make the atmosphere that much more romantic.

He needn’t have bothered. Louis picked up a small dessert fork with his right hand, meanwhile he let his left hand fall down past the tabletop and land at the top of Harry’s thigh. The warmth emanating from his leg made Louis want to rub circles in it, so he did, slowly. Gently.

Harry shifted in his seat, and Louis felt his leg move with his body under his palm. He watched as Harry closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall of the booth.

They were so close to each other, Louis was practically sitting in Harry’s lap, and he leaned the last little bit he needed in order to nose against Harry’s jaw, just under his ear.

“I’ve had a really great time tonight,” he breathed against the taut skin of Harry’s neck. He watched as the muscles in Harry’s throat tightened and released.

Their eyes met with a wild glance, and Louis could feel Harry’s desperation, his desire for Louis to take control of the situation. The need for both of them to get ahold of themselves as they went out into the world.

“Do we need to call the car?” he suggested.

Harry frantically shook his head. “Home. Nearby.”

“Alright, Harold. Why don’t you go outside and wait for me on the steps of the building next door. I’ll take care of the check.”

“Lou, don’t be silly, I asked you,” he whispered, back to the smiling and blushing Harry from earlier in the evening.

“That’s okay, hun, you can get it next time.”

Something intense flashed in Harry’s eyes as he breathed deeply, never breaking their eye contact. Instead of replying, he pushed himself out of the booth and quickly out the front door.

Louis handed his credit card to the waiter without bothering to look at the bill first. His foot bounced impatiently with every second he was separated from Harry.

His blood sang with the desire to absolutely ravish him, but maybe this small bit of distance would help them collect themselves long enough to make it to this mysterious home Harry had in the neighborhood. Louis made a mental note to ask him why he always got photographed across town in Fort Point, if he owned something on the hill.

When the waiter returned with the slip, Louis didn’t let him walk away. He signed it, and slapped a huge tip in the billfold before handing it back immediately. “Thank you, truly.”

The waiter nodded and motioned that he would keep his mouth shut about the whole evening. Perfect.

He took a few deep breaths and climbed up the steps from the garden level to find Harry. His long, lean body was tucked away in a dark entryway a few doors down.

“Ready?” he asked, pocketing his phone and stepping out of the shadows.

“Yeah,” Louis replied, holding out his hand for Harry to take.

They twined their fingers together and set off up the hill towards the State House.

Harry led him on a zig zag path through Beacon Hill before they ended up in a small brick alleyway with a hidden door that had beautiful wrought iron detailing and an old fashioned lantern hanging above it.

“Very clever, Harold. Hiding in plain sight.”

Harry didn’t say anything in response, just unlocked the door into a small stairwell. He led Louis up a single flight of stairs until they were in the main part of the townhouse. The kitchen and living room were updated, but relatively modest for the neighborhood. Space was limited, even for the upper crust families on Beacon Hill, but Louis knew some of the houses had been completely gutted and modernized which made him a bit sick.

Harry’s though had a beautiful herringbone parquet floor, and lovely worn carpets and dark furnishings. “It’s lovely,” he breathed as he turned around to find Harry watching him.

Throwing caution to the wind, Louis approached Harry, coming in close and placing his hands low on Harry’s hips. Harry was still leaning against the island, and didn’t wrap his arms around Louis quite yet, but did lean down to give him a kiss.

Lips and tongues slipped together with just the barest hint of chocolate cake lingering between them. Louis let his hands drift up into Harry’s hair as he felt the warmth of Harry’s palm against his cheek. Harry rubbed the stubble on Louis’ jaw experimentally with his thumb.

They stayed there for awhile, pressed up against the island, basking in each other, letting the kiss get more and more heated.

Finally, Harry pulled back and they separated, both breathing heavily. “Do you need to pick up Cat?” Harry panted.

“What? Right now?” Louis was discombobulated, well beyond rational thought.

“No, I mean, like, in the morning. Can you stay?”

Louis felt the butterflies strike up again in full force for how gentlemanly Harry was being with the dirtiest of implications.

“No, no. I can stay. Bridget will take her to school.”

“Work?” Harry asked, still keeping Louis at arms length.

“Not really. I can take a morning off here and there,” he hummed as he leaned back into Harry’s body, pressing their chests together and giving him a closed mouth kiss. “Awful presumptuous of you. But, thank you for checking,” he teased.

Harry reached down to tap Louis’ thighs, and Louis took the hint, hopping up and wrapping his legs around Harry’s waist. Harry began to head for the stairs, and Louis decided to make the climb as difficult as possible from his place in Harry’s arms.

They got about halfway up before they were doubled over laughing and Harry relented, letting Louis walk of his own accord. “You menace,” he wheezed. “I was trying to be sexy.”

Louis reached down and squeezed Harry’s backside. “You’re sexy all on your own, I promise.”

Harry began pushing him up the remaining steps in the direction of what Louis hoped was a bed. When they got to the master bedroom, Harry began kissing him in earnest once again.

“I want to feel you,” Harry murmured, setting Louis on fire.

“You will,” Louis promised. They had all night. Hours for Louis to tease Harry to the brink, making it last, making it count.

And that’s exactly what he did. Louis laid Harry out on the bed and explored every inch of his body. He tasted every patch of skin he could find, memorizing, creating a treasure map in his mind of all the delectable parts of him.

When Harry couldn’t stand it any longer, tears forming in the corners of his eyes out of desperation, Louis finally pressed into him.

Louis did his best to maintain his slow and languid pace, but by then, they were both so keyed up and heavy with arousal, that it didn’t take long for his strokes to become rough and erratic. He held off as long as he could, helping Harry over the edge before finally letting himself follow.

After they were done, ears ringing, they collapsed against each other. A few heartbeats later, Harry half whispered, half mumbled that he had wipes in the bedside table drawer, and Louis grabbed one to clean them both up before tossing it over the side of the bed in the vague direction of a blurry shape that may have been a garbage.

They maneuvered around until they were both under the blankets, Harry’s back to Louis’ front.

Just like he did every night they were separated, Louis hovered in the halfway point between sleep and wakefulness wondering about what Cat had gotten up to that day. He would find out tomorrow after school. For now, he let himself drift asleep to the feeling of Harry’s chest rising and falling against his own.

 

 **_I see you from a different point of view  
_ ** **_I feel it's too good to be true  
_ ** ******_I found my missing piece_**

The next morning Louis slowly came back to consciousness with his face somehow pressed into Harry’s armpit. Which still smelled good, despite the rigorous activity they had gotten up to the night before.

“Why,” he groaned as Harry shifted beneath him. “Why are you so stupidly perfect?”

“Mmm… what?” Harry smacked his lips together as he too was dragged back to the land of the living.

Louis poked his chest. “You’re stupid.”

“Oh, okay,” Harry replied, opening his eyes, finally.

Louis kept inching his body across Harry’s until he could prop his chin on Harry’s chest. “Good morning,” he said.

Harry smiled so wide that his dimples were cavernous and his eyes became squinty enough that they practically disappeared. “Good morning.”

Louis tucked his head down and laid flat against Harry’s chest, his ear against his heartbeat while his nose was tickled by the few downy chest hairs Harry had. He was just beginning to drift off again when his human pillow shifted drastically enough that Louis found himself flat on his back. “Who? What?”

Before he could get his bearings, Harry began to burrow under the covers, and Louis felt Harry's hand inch closer and closer to where he was half hard from being pressed against Harry’s body all night. Harry kept crawling around, completely covered by the duvet, until he was between Louis’ legs, fingers ghosting over the thin skin of Louis’ hips and inner thighs.

Louis lifted up the edge of the duvet. “May I help you?” 

Harry tilted his face up to look him in the eye, squinting in the sudden onslaught of sunlight. “Wanted to thank you for last night,” he shrugged. That was all he said for awhile. Showing Louis just how much he appreciated the night before through one of the most thorough blow jobs Louis had ever received in his life.

When he was done, breathing heavily and wiping the sweaty curls away from his forehead, Louis looked over at him. “I genuinely think you’ve sucked my brain out through my dick.”

Harry gave one of his sharp honky laughs that Louis was beginning to love.

Like. Harry’s laugh that Louis was beginning to _like_. Thoroughly enjoy. Find great amusement in--not love.

They had only been on one date. It was too soon.

“What time is it?” Louis asked, not bothering to locate his phone that had to be somewhere on the floor in the pile of their clothes.

“About nine,” Harry replied, checking his own phone. “Want some breakfast?” he asked.

“Yeah, and then I think I need to get going,” Louis added regretfully.

Harry understood, though. Louis could see it in his eyes. It wasn’t goodbye. Not in the slightest. “Let me grab you something to wear.” He hopped up immediately and began digging through one of the lowest drawers in his dresser.

“Don’t be silly, I can just wear whatever,” Louis replied absently as he admired the view Harry’s cute little cheeks provided when he bent over.

“No!” Harry said emphatically if a little muffled. Louis didn’t understand until a heap of gray fabric was flying through the air at him. When he unfolded it, he found the oldest most threadbare pair of gray sweatpants imaginable. Harry was leaning against the dresser, still naked, waggling his eyebrows comically.

“Naughty boy, Harold,” Louis chastised. Harry shrugged unapologetically.

When they were both dressed and downstairs enjoying the breakfast Harry whipped up, Harry barely waited two seconds after Louis was done chewing to crowd him up against the kitchen counter. “You look mind-numbingly hot in those.”

“So you’ve said.”

They made out for a few minutes against the counter before Louis pulled back. “I really need to go.”

“I wasn’t supposed to come back to Boston,” Harry blurt out.

“What?”

Harry licked his lips. “I was supposed to stay in LA until the tour started next week. I changed the schedule, to see you.”

Louis opened his mouth to protest, but Harry placed a finger against his lips.

“No. I’m not trying to guilt you into staying or anything. I just wanted to show you that this can work. I love being on the road, it’s one of my favorite things about what I do, but I also want to have a home base.” Harry took a shuddery breath in, and let it out slowly. “I’m not going to ask anything of you. I’m not. I just want you to know that I’m not going to see anyone else while I’m on the road. That’s it.”

After he was done, he stopped crowding Louis and pushed away from the counter. Louis’ heart was racing from the implications of what Harry had just told him. He was nervous and excited, and the butterflies were kicking up again, but nothing in him screamed warning bells. Nothing was there waving red flags telling him that Harry wasn’t for real.

Louis was beginning to understand that Harry Styles was as real as it got.

 

 **_Oh, my, my  
_ ** **_When I look into your eyes  
_ ** **_It's a sight I can't describe  
_ ** ******_Oh I must be seeing blind_**

They had a limited amount of time before Harry had to go away, and ended up seeing each other once more just briefly for lunch.

There was a quiet cafe, halfway between the NBS building and Harry’s home in Beacon Hill where they had a relaxed meal out on a terrace. Louis wasn’t sure who Harry begged or paid off to snag them the private space, but it was on the roof at the back of a building, hidden away, so they had the chance for long languid kisses without intrusion.

Louis couldn’t help but feel completely smitten, and he was having a hard time controlling himself. They started texting and facetiming while Harry was on the road, and Louis was so wrapped up in the romance of a new relationship that all he wanted to do was talk to him. The tour started in Europe, so the time difference was a hassle, but they were developing a pattern, just in time for him to hit Asia where it was virtually impossible.

Hardest of all though, was keeping something so monumental from Cat.

He hated keeping secrets from his daughter, but he was being cowardly. He had explained to Harry that he was always wary of telling Cat about a relationship in case it didn’t work out. Harry had understood, but had also pointed out that their “grace period” wasn’t going to be typical because he would be away more often than not for the first few months.

Together they decided they would wait until he was back in town physically, and they could tell her then.

Louis was still worried that she would hate him for all eternity. He knew that she loved Harry both before and after they met and ate dinner together that night after his concert, but he was worried she wouldn’t want Louis’ interfering with that dynamic. The special relationship she had with someone she so idolized.

The benefit of having a daughter who was obsessed with his boyfriend, was the daily updates of what he was up to in the public eye. As soon as Louis expressed an interest in Harry for the first time after the concert, she began showing him the different places he could find pictures of Harry on stage, he began following Harry on Instagram, Twitter, the lot.

Harry didn’t post much on social media, which wasn’t surprising from someone who had a separate home that the public didn’t know about. Louis asked about it once, and Harry told him that the Fort Point apartment belonged to his personal assistant and was frequently used for scheduled paparazzi outings.

Cat liked to talk to Louis about Harry, which did nothing but simultaneously fuel his guilt for not saying anything about their relationship, and feed his hunger for any new Harry material he could get.

It was one such morning before breakfast, when Harry was on the Asian leg of his tour, that she came barrelling down the stairs yelling about Harry’s pretty gold-patterned suit from that morning.

“It’s shiny, and has a pink collar!” she explained with a mouthful of cereal.

“Chew please,” he reminded her as he turned back around to pour the water for his tea. His phone must have been completely turned down to silent because he didn’t even hear it ring before he heard Cat’s spoon clatter in her bowl.

“Daddy?” she asked slowly. He turned back around to see that she was holding his phone in one hand with the screen facing her. “Why is Harry calling you?”

Louis’ blood ran cold. “Uh…” he replied dumbly. His heart was pounding as he lept across the kitchen, but he wasn’t fast enough to stop her from swiping across the front and answering it.

“Hey, L--” he heard Harry’s tinny phone speaker voice stop and then cut off. It was a FaceTime. Shit. “Cat?”

“Hi Harry,” she said brightly, as Louis came around behind her, resigned now to his fate. “Why aren’t you wearing any clothes?”

Louis slapped a hand over his eyes. “Oh, God.”

“Hey, Cat… I’m, um, just done performing.” Harry’s voice was deep and a bit hoarse after singing a whole concert.

“I know, you were in Singapore. I liked your suit today,” she added chomping down on another bite of cereal.

“Hi Lou,” Harry said giving him a little wave. Louis waved over Cat’s head in response.

She started to ask Harry all kinds of questions about the show and the audience, and the songs he sang, until Louis finally reminded her that it was time for school. She hung up the call and ran upstairs to brush her teeth.

He immediately called Harry back on a regular phone call this time. “I am so sorry,” he said.

Harry laughed, “That’s okay. Do you think she’s onto us?”

“I honestly have no idea. I guess we’ll see in a bit, I have to go so I can take her to school.”

“Okay, Lou. I’m going to head back to the hotel. Text me later, yeah? I might pass out, but at least they’ll be waiting for me when I wake up.”

Louis bit back a grin. “Will do. Bye, Harry.”

They both hung up, and Louis stared down at the phone in his hand for an extra few seconds.

“Busted!” Cat yelled, making Louis jump a few feet in the air and put a hand on his heart.

“You scared the shit out of me,” he breathed out.

“Ooh, you said a bad word,” she taunted him. He laughed as he got his breath back. “So, Dad.”

“Cat,” he replied with fake solemnity.

“Harry called you,” she said very matter-of-factly.

Louis nodded, “Yes he did.”

“And he called you Lou, like Mommy and Uncle Niall do.”

 _Shit_ , Louis hadn’t even realized Harry had done that.

“Is he, like, your friend now?” she asked while she scrunched her nose up.

Louis stared at his daughter for a moment. Up until that moment, he had been lying by omission. He hadn’t lied about his relationship with Harry because Cat never knew that there was anything to ask about. But now, she was asking, very explicitly, and he found that he couldn’t keep lying.

“Um. Kind of. He’s actually,” Louis paused and prayed that Harry was okay with the label he was about to put on him. Otherwise they would have to have a very awkward conversation when he got back into town. “Well, he’s my boyfriend.”

Cat was silent for a few heartbeats that felt like years to Louis. “Is he going to like move in and stuff?”

That was a much easier question than he had been expecting; “No, he’s not moving in right now. I mean, he may in the future, but that’s a really long way away. He’s got his own house downtown near my office.”

She scrunched her nose again like she had earlier, “It’s kind of weird.”

Weird. Weird wasn’t bad, necessarily. Louis could maybe work with weird. “Yeah, I know.”

“Is he going to come over a lot to hang out, then?” she asked.

“I mean he’s on tour right now-- Wait a second,” Louis eyed his daughter. “You just want to hang out with Harry.”

“Duh.”

Louis felt another knot in his stomach uncoil, “Duh,” he mimicked. “What, am I not cool enough for you now?” he asked, mock offended.

“Harry is and always will be cooler than you,” she replied.

“Ugh! What?! How can you _say_ that?” His ego was wounded, but he secretly agreed. She shrugged, so he gave her shoulder a little shove. “Alright, then. Let’s walk to school. I’ll be sure to stay a few steps behind you.”

“I’m sorry, Dad,” she said throwing her arms around his middle in a full body koala hug, effectively melting his heart to butter for the rest of time.

“It’s okay, Kitty Cat. I forgive you,” he ruffled her hair and picked up her backpack, slinging it over one shoulder. “Let’s go.”

 

 **_Oh, my, my, you just took me by surprise  
_ ** **_And I can't believe my eyes  
_ ** **_Oh, I must be seeing blind  
_ ** **_Oh no, now you're too good to be all mine  
_ ** **_Now I'm looking in your eyes  
_ ** ******_Oh, I must be seeing blind_**

Harry came back to town a few weeks later, this time, with his tour. The whole crew was using Boston as a home base for the northeastern tour dates, and Louis wondered how much time they would actually have together. It would probably be painfully short, but they would just need to try and work out a schedule for the rest of his North American dates.

Louis had already begun talking to Bridget and Jimmy about times they may or may not be able to take Cat for a full long weekend instead of just one or two nights here and there.

Even before they got together, Harry had scheduled a short break in the tour before the North American dates started. He wanted everyone to be able to take time off before launching the last leg.

That was how Louis found himself on his knees in his office on a Friday afternoon. Harry’s back was pressed against the door and he was trying to both lock the door and keep from making any noise.

After he managed to get Harry out of his jeans, Louis listened for the lock but never heard it. Harry’s hand must have gotten lost on the way to the small lever under the door handle, because next thing Louis’ knew, Harry was balling his fist in the hair on top of his head.

When Louis took him deep, Harry gave a little tug, sending shivers up and down Louis’ spine. He sure hoped Harry’s body was enough weight to keep the door closed.

 

A week later, Cat had earplugs in as they sat front row at Harry’s concert in the Garden. Louis had gotten comp tickets prior to knowing Harry through NBS because they were owned by the same parent company as Harry’s record label, and he knew Cat would want to go. But all of that was before the concert on the square, and he had told Harry all about it since then.

When he went to go pick up their comp tickets the day of the show, he had seen the seat assignments, and immediately knew what Harry had done. Admittedly, Louis had been a little bit put out when Harry hadn’t invited them backstage before the show, but now he knew why. The element of surprise. He was so dramatic. Louis rolled his eyes.

He took a picture of the tickets and texted Harry.

 **Louis** : This is not right, Harold. These should go to your real fans.

 **Harry** : You’re not a real fan? You’re awful, I can’t believe you.

 **Louis** : You know what I mean.

 **Harry** : Didn’t you say a long time ago that Cat was my biggest fan?

 **Louis** : Yeah but not front row biggest fan.

 **Harry** : She is now ;)

Louis rolled his eyes again.

 **Louis** : Are you still okay to come to my place after? Need the address again?

 **Harry** : Nope. Got it.

 **Louis** : I’m excited

 **Harry** : Me too, want to get my mouth on that ass

 **Louis** : HAROLD

 **Louis** : THE INDECENCY

 **Harry** : ;)

Louis could feel his blush go all the way down to his chest. He grabbed his daughter’s hand, and entered the Garden, ready to watch his boyfriend perform.

 

Later that night, after all the songs, after the camera flashes, and Harry’s cheeky interactions with the audience, after dropping Cat off with her mom, and dashing across town to try and beat Harry to their house, Louis was sure it was all a dream.

Harry’s fingers were tracing shapes on his skin in the moonlight which was much too extraordinary a circumstance for his usually very ordinary bed. Surely he would wake up and the last few months will have been a dream.

“I know that I’m still going to be gone for another month, and I’m sorry, I wish there was something I could do.” Harry sounded pained and apologetic.

Louis grabbed Harry’s hand from where it was dancing around his belly button and dragged it up to his lips. He placed a kiss along the backs of his knuckles.

“I don’t think you get it, Harry. I _know_ you have to be gone, and I wouldn’t ask you to change that. I don’t want you to feel guilty about it.” Louis did his best to smile and ease the tension that was creating wrinkles in Harry’s brow. “Me and Cat don’t need much, I promise. We’ll take what we can get.”

Harry studied him for a moment before leaning across his chest and drawing him into a deep kiss. “Okay but when I’m here, I just want to pretend like it’s day to day. Like run errands and do stupid stuff.” His eyes lit up. “The grocery store! Tomorrow morning we should go to the grocery store, and I’ll get stuff to cook for you for the whole weekend.”

Louis burst out laughing. “Alright, Mr. Domestic. But are you sure you want to go to the store? Trader Joe’s on a Saturday morning is a warzone even if you aren’t an international superstar.”

“Nonsense,” Harry said dismissively. “We’ll be fine.”

 

The next morning, standing the same grocery store where he had seen the paparazzi pictures of Harry all those weeks ago, Louis leaned up against one of end cap shelves, watching as real life Harry posed for selfies and signed a few pieces of receipt paper, a smile playing on his lips.

When they finally managed to make their way out the door, a whole thirty minutes later than intended, Harry was carrying the bags of food, and Louis took the opportunity to dig his hand under the back of his hoodie to both lead him out the door and sneak a grope of the soft skin there.

“You know,” Harry said as they cut their way through the more residential streets, “We’re really going to have to find a better time to go to that store.”

“Oh?” Louis asked, teasing him. “Planning on coming regularly?”

Harry smirked, “I might be.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! You can find the fic post [here](http://becomeawendybird.tumblr.com/post/173551095096/took-me-by-surprise-by-quickedween-208k-m).


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